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Fun aside. For me the imagination of being inspired by a modern alarmclock is strange (foreign). I couldn't use that, I think, but I don't need it either. For me inspiration is an internal affair and the discussions sometimes with my poor mood to start are part of the process.
But many people seem to love their timer and what it is telling them. Out of this kind of joy they might be willing to share their results. So: Why not?

Some Native Americans who first encountered Europeans thought Europeans worshipped the clock because to them it appeared to tell them what to do.

Those who, even with distracted minds,
Entered a stupa compound
And chanted but once, “Namo Buddhaya!”
Have certainly attained the path of the buddhas.
-Lotus Sutra, Expedient Means Chapter

There are beings with little dust in their eyes who are falling away because they do not hear the Dhamma. There will be those who will understand the Dhamma.
-Ayacana Sutta

If we really want to be sublime meditators, we should not set a time period for our meditation as is the modern meditator's style. We should not count the hours or minutes because limited time makes limited meditation. Our ordering, limited gross and subtle elements' mind cannot release itself it into the sublime, limitless, secret essence of the elements if we are bound by exact time. If our mind is bound by anything, it is never vast. If we are always trapped and limited by time, place and direction, how can we have Wisdom Mind confidence? How can we understand other people's faculties and benefit other beings ? How can we help limited mind with limited meditation mind ?

There is not only nothingness because there is always, and always can manifest. - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

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Fun aside. For me the imagination of being inspired by a modern alarmclock is strange (foreign). I couldn't use that, I think, but I don't need it either. For me inspiration is an internal affair and the discussions sometimes with my poor mood to start are part of the process.
But many people seem to love their timer and what it is telling them. Out of this kind of joy they might be willing to share their results. So: Why not?

Some Native Americans who first encountered Europeans thought Europeans worshipped the clock because to them it appeared to tell them what to do.

I think, they observed well and came to a nearly true conclusion.

I have decided to stick with love.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. -

If we really want to be sublime meditators, we should not set a time period for our meditation as is the modern meditator's style.

I used to read krishnamurt, who was always insistent there was no method to meditation. “Meditation”, he would say, “is when there’s nothing between you and the sky”. Spontaneous and immmediate, “the first step is the last”. I learned some valuable lessons from reading Krishnamurti but I didn’t feel as though “the only revolution” that he talked about was really taking root. I felt I could read Krishnamurti books or listen to recordings for the rest of my life and nothing would really change. It seemed to me that the approach in the Zen books I also read, provided a way. Also I learned from a teacher who said ‘practice meditation for two periods morning and evneing’. I have been doing that for a long while. Sometimes indeed it does seem like a mechanical routine, but that is what I am practicing, and I will own the consequences.

If we really want to be sublime meditators, we should not set a time period for our meditation as is the modern meditator's style.

I used to read krishnamurt, who was always insistent there was no method to meditation. “Meditation”, he would say, “is when there’s nothing between you and the sky”. Spontaneous and immmediate, “the first step is the last”. I learned some valuable lessons from reading Krishnamurti but I didn’t feel as though “the only revolution” that he talked about was really taking root. I felt I could read Krishnamurti books or listen to recordings for the rest of my life and nothing would really change. It seemed to me that the approach in the Zen books I also read, provided a way. Also I learned from a teacher who said ‘practice meditation for two periods morning and evneing’. I have been doing that for a long while. Sometimes indeed it does seem like a mechanical routine, but that is what I am practicing, and I will own the consequences.

Well, I wasn't suggesting that TNR's statement should be taken as gospel, it applies at a certain level. I also do some practices for fixed periods of time and in the past most of my practice was like that. I just like that quote because it counteracts certain ideas people might have unreflectively absorbed, but there can definitely be a lot of benefit in having a practice routine too, timer and all.

There is not only nothingness because there is always, and always can manifest. - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche